George Miller: “Mr. Speaker, the Cuban Government committed a reprehensible and tragic act when it decided to shoot down two civilian…”

“Mr. Speaker, the Cuban Government committed a reprehensible and tragic act when it decided to shoot down two civilian airplanes flown by the Cuban-American organization Brothers to the Rescue last month. And I send my condolences to the families of the victims. The shootdown was a tragedy in so many ways. It could and should have been avoided. The Cubans could have taken alternate steps. But they specifically had warned the United States and Brothers that this would happen. The group and the administration did not heed those warnings. The United States failed to prevent the group from continuing its flights of fancy and I believe the group deliberately ventured into hostile territory to provoke a U.S. reaction. The shootdown was a tragedy as well because but for that tragic action this legislation would not have won the last support that it needed. And the legislation is wrong. Instead, we should continue to open United States policy toward Cuba--for the benefit of Cuban-Americans, for American businesses, and for regional peace, and, yes, democracy. But now Congress is poised to leap backward today as it considers the so-called Cuban Liberty Act. We should not do that. Mr. Speaker, this legislation was wrong before the shootdown happened and it remains wrong today. The shootdown has not provided a single justification for a policy that even the administration that now embraces it had just recently denounced.”